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a dialog

Dear Mr. Ginsburg

I have recently chanced upon an article about
your protests against the display of real human cadavers ... I must
disagree in some parts. I understand your standpoint on how it
"cheapens life and death", but the purpose for exhibits such
as "Bodies... The Exhibition" is to educate people and to inspire the
minds of children. Many world problems today are caused, in my opinion,
by ignorance and I believe that this is the type of thing
that sparks a child's mind into dropping their dreams of being a Power
Ranger. The people that donated their bodies were no doubt fully
aware of the cause that they were serving I want to hear more from your side...See my response

north shore

I wrote the following letter to the editor of theJewish Journal on Boston's North Shore.

September 15, 2006

Don't Exploit the Dead to Attract Crowds

I have been campaigning since the beginning of June to make the publicaware of the ethical issues regarding the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at theMuseum of Science. I have demonstrated several times in front of themuseum, and have also created a website,http://dignityinboston.googlepages.com/home, that fully explains myopposition. The public has a right to know why the exhibit is"controversial."

Sadly, one of the prime audiences for this exhibit is school children.Rest assured, the museum is not going out of its way to make studentsor teachers aware of the ethical questions.

I believe it is wrong to exploit the bodies of the deceased to bringin the crowds. These exhibits are extremely de-personalizing. Ourremains should be treated with dignity and respect to honor the livingsoul that they once contained.You will hear that the exhibit is educational. This is a smoke screen,since the educating could just as well have been done without the useof "real" human bodies. The news media, Hollywood, and even museumsteach us without the use of real objects all the time.

You will hear "but we have permission from the donors of the bodies."In a nutshell, my answer is "So what?" It is very sad that renownedinstitutions such as the Museum of Science feel it necessary to takecover behind the dead.Aaron GinsburgSharon